PARAMOUNT MORTGAGE - LENDER'S BLOG

Wanted: First-time homebuyers willing to turn the market around

Reported by Mary Delach Leonard, St. Louis Beacon

St. Louis, MO - The online news publication, St. Louis Beacon reported this week that "opportunity is knocking" for first-time homebuyers willing to take advantage of bargain home prices, low-interest mortgages and a temporary federal tax credit.

Mary Delach Leonard from the St. Louis Beacon surveyed St. Louis area Realtors for their insights into the area's current housing market. Leonard's article reported about a shared sentiment among real estate professionals that "it's going to take motivated first-time homebuyers to jumpstart the slumping market."

St. Louis Realtor Marty Ribaudo, of RE/MAX Associates Plus, was quoted by Leonard stating that "first-time buyers could, in effect, 'bump up' the market, enabling current homeowners to move up into larger, more expensive homes."

These elusive first-time buyers in St. Louis are just beginning to step forward in response to interest rates hovering at a range of around five percent or lower and a surplus of affordable properties on the market. The financial incentives, loan programs, and funds are available for the asking. These options include:

• First-Time Homebuyer $7,500 Tax Credit from the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act;
• FHA (Federal Housing Administration) backed loans with a 3.5% down payment;
• VA (Veterans Administration) backed loans with no down payment requirement and available 100% financing;
• Tax Credit Advance Loan (TCAL) program from MHDC (Missouri Housing Development Commission) offering a cash advance loan of the federal first-time homebuyer tax credit (expected early 2009).

Christa Mulchek, a Realtor with Prudential Select Properties, offered that "buyers are also taking their time because they are bargain hunting. If you want to sell your home, you have to price it a lot lower." Realtor Merry Dahms of RE/MAX, added that this is "the best buyers' market she has seen in her 22-year career."

The most promising news was reported from Nancy Milton of Coldwell Banker Brown stating, "we are actually seeing a lot of movement in first-time buyers," she said. "And I think that the low interest rates are really making them sit up and take notice that this is a great time for them to move from a rental situation to a home of their own."

Milton continued that "the buyers she has worked with recognize that their personal financial situations are better than the gloomy national economic news might have them believe."

Read the entire St. Louis Beacon article online: Wanted: First-Time Homebuyers